Hand-dyed yarns are one of my greatest weaknesses. Sundara Yarn and madelinetosh have probably been out to some really lavish dinners on my dime, and as long as they keep feeding my my subtle-hued fiber fascinations, I’m totally okay with that.
It’s only recently that I’ve been brave enough to use these hand-dyed beauties in garments more expansive than a shawlette or a pair of socks. Once you stray into territory that requires more than one skein, hand-dyed yarn becomes like the high-maintenance woman you marry: ever so lovely, but requiring real tact and care to avoid disaster. My first forays into hand-dyed sweaters have been so far safe, and I gave real care to alternating skeins on only one of them (and it was striped, so probably wouldn’t have been noticeable by anyone but me anyway).
But this latest…
I set aside 4 hanks of madelinetosh pashmina in an incredible color called “cosmos” at the recommendation of my yarn store boss/friend Alyssa. I took home three of them to begin work on a top-down sweater that has the singular distinction of knitting the sleeves before the body of the sweater. I broke into the second hank at the start of the second sleeve, and knit like a madwoman, only to begin binding off said sleeve and see…
The lovely muddled purple-charcoal-teal I had been knitting with, and the “new skein” which is much more teal-dominant. Crap.
So now, the choices. Do I rip back and try again with the third skein, which is a much closer match, then alternate rows into the body to merge into the teal gradually? Or do I just plow on ahead?
I’m a little torn. Since I’ve committed this project (along with the myriad others detailed in the previous post) to my month-long games this go-’round, I’m really trying to finish this sweater as fast as possible. Ripping out a huge amount of work for an aesthetic issue is not conducive to fast. On the other hand, will I hate the finished product if I can see exactly where the new yarns came into play, or will it work with the overall casual/artisan feel of the garment?
Conundrum indeed.
4 Comments
Ann
Rip it out!! Your deadlines are self-imposed and therefore can be self-amended. I can’t imagine you’d be satisfied with a sweater looking like the photo. Besides, your speed-knitting makes my wrists hurt 🙂
Claudine
Frog it. although it is heartbreaking now, you have to be happy with the finished product in the end. It will be worth it!
Audrey
Actually ladies, I just kept right on truckin’, and I like the finished effect. It has this sort of pieced-together, modular feel, and given the color and the structure of the garment, it really kind of works in a funky way. I have to weave in the ends, sew up the pockets, and block, but I’ll post some pictures soon and let you guys judge. But I like it. 😀 The pashmina is so soft, and it fits absolutely perfectly.
Ann
That is awesome! I looked up the pattern on Ravelry and can understand what you mean. I think I would have gone the safe way and frogged, but you have inspired me to think of colors, patterns, stripes, etc differently!!! What an exciting, intriguing thought! Thanks!